Leaked emails indicate a ministerial advisory group is expected to overrule the Education Ministry on who would rewrite the maths and English curriculums. 

The emails, which were sent to RNZ anonymously and dating from early April, show members of the ministerial advisory group on English and maths were placed on the teams charged with writing the curriculums and expected to approve who the other members would be. 

They said the group’s members would have separate contracts for the curriculum writing and it was good to have separation between the two roles “for a number of reasons”. 

“Even so, it will be important to ensure that the MAG [ministerial advisory group] members who will be involved in writing are satisfied that the other writers are suitable,” one of the messages said. 

A message from advisory group member Dr Elizabeth Rata said she had “my English writing team, dates and venue all ready to go”. 

Normally, the ministry would select writing team members in consultation with the relevant teacher subject association. 

The emails also show at least one member of the advisory group rejected the Treaty of Waitangi as a basis for including Māori writers among the works children should read at school, saying quality was the only reason to include them. The identity of the person writing that statement was not included in the information sent to RNZ. 

The Education Ministry told RNZ Rata had acted outside the scope of the advisory group’s terms of reference in contacting potential writing team members, but it had accepted the people she selected based on their expertise and capabilities. 

“We recognise there may have been some confusion at the outset around the parameters of the MAG’s role in writing groups, which led to this occurrence. However, this has been clearly resolved and clarified with MAG members by the ministry,” the ministry’s curriculum centre leader, Ellen MacGregor-Reid, said. 

The ministry did not confirm whether the advisory group approved members of other curriculum writing teams. 

MacGregor-Reid said writing groups and the ministry were working to develop draft curriculums which acknowledged the Treaty of Waitangi. 

“It is important to note that the writing groups do not decide the finished product. All their work is checked and inputted into by the Ministry, IQA’d [Internal Quality Assurance] by ERO [Education Review Office] and will be put out for public consultation, as a required part of the process,” she said. 

Earlier this year, Rata told RNZ the draft curriculum would include compulsory Shakespeare and grammar lessons. 

The emails have fuelled secondary school English teachers’ fears about the likely content of their rewritten curriculum just as their subject association, the Association for the Teaching of English, holds its annual conference in Dunedin later this week. 

Association for the Teaching of English president Pip Tinning said normally the Education Ministry would ask the sector for nominations for a curriculum writing group, or discuss possible members with the association, and keep teachers informed of progress. 

She said none of that had happened and the emails indicated the ministerial advisory group, not the ministry, was overseeing the curriculum changes. 

“I guess the frustration comes that the Minister of Education sent us a letter saying that the normal process had been followed so those emails show that actually that’s not true.” 

The writing group’s membership should include a range of views, Tinning said. 

“It’s really important that you’re not sitting in an echo chamber of a particular viewpoint,” she said. 

“What we would be really keen on is actually having differing voices at the table and coming up with something that’s really, really robust. And by not following that process, what these emails show is that robustness is missing and actually it’s been taken over by a very select group of people.” 

Teachers were also worried by the silence from the Education Ministry, Tinning said. 

“All our English advisors, our contacts for subject English in the ministry have all lost their jobs. So we haven’t heard anything from the Ministry of Education in any official capacity whatsoever. That’s unacceptable quite frankly.” 

Some of the association’s members wanted a more prescriptive curriculum, but most were not happy with the way it was being rewritten, Tinning said. 

“The vast majority are appalled at the process.” 

The email dismissing the Treaty of Waitangi was worrying, Tinning said. 

The email in question listed examples of Māori writing which would be included in the English curriculum. 

“These writers and works are included for one reason – their quality ensures them a place in the New Zealand literary canon. I do not recognise the revisionist interpretation of Treaty Articles 2 and 3 as a justification for inclusion,” the message said. 

“Mātauranga Māori as a belief system and traditional practices is not included in the English programmes. However, content that will require teaching about the beliefs and practices is included.” 

Tinning said Māori students were not achieving at the same rates as other students and schools should be good Treaty partners by adhering to the articles of the Treaty. 

“Looking at Mātauranga Māori as an afterthought, as something that might be worthwhile looking at, that’s unacceptable. It needs to be woven into the fabric of what subject English in New Zealand actually is.” 

- John Gerritsen, RNZ